Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-23
THE CONVICT LAgoR oUEA TION.
Views of Eminent PenoioEists Upon the
Subject.


Subject.
Among the questions prepared by Hon
W. {. Hendricks, as President Of The Pen
illogical Commission of California, in 1886
and submitted to penologists at the East
was the following:
As labor for prisoners is not only q
legal and an economic demand, but is also
necessary TO discipline and reclamation,
what Is the best solution of the convict
labor question ?"
! 10 this question answers were made in
/ large numbers, from which the following
are selected;
! r. Is. Sanborn, Secretary of the Massa-
| ehusetts Board of Charities, says: The
| best solution OF the convict labor question
Is hard to find. The principle is clear
enough that labor should be exacted of all
! conyicts, and that it should be recon-
pensed as fully as possible, for, of all
classes IN the community, those least de-
serve TO be supported at public cost whose
lives have led them into crime. But how
to organize this labor so as to interfere
least with sef-supporting laborers in the
community, is the problem My own opin-
ion inclines to what is called the "piece-
prizes" system now in use in the Elmira
Reformatory, | think, and, on smaller
scale, IN two or three Massachusetts Re-
formatories. But a combination of two
modes of convict labor in the same prison
Is often an advantage in the shifting CON
dltion OF the labor market, and of political
sentiment, which will have more or less
effect on prison management, az things
now are in the United States.
lNoTE.-The 'plece-pricep plan means
that the prison authorities contract with
outside manufacturers, or dealers, to fur
nish them with manufactured goods at so
much 3 piece. As, for instance, chairs at
so much per dozen, or shoes at such Il
price per pair, and then make the goods
to I'LL the contract, with the labor of the
prisoners. The public account" system
is exemplitied in the manufacture of lutte
goods at San Quentin. The material is
purchased by the State Tor on public ac-
count') through the Prison Directors, and
manufactured by prison labor. The man
utactured goods are then sold on public
account for the best price ohtainable. The
contract system" as is well known, is
when the State, through the Directors,
" lets out the prisoners at so much per
capita, TO work for outside parties, the
work TO be done either within the prison
walls or elsewhere, as agreed upon.-IIps.
RECoRD-UNIoN.
The celebrated penologist, u. r. Brock
way, of the Elmira Reformatory, says:
The best solution Tin the Reformatory
Prison. is, first, prisoners must be subjected
to systematic labor; second, mechanical
labor is better than any other; third, if
the prisoners within the prison are en-
ployed IN divers industries for which they
have natural adaptation, and which they
are likely to follow on their release en-
ployed substantially rs they should and
would have been if self-supporting, law
observing citizens instead of criminals en-
ployed for their own subsistence, and ordi-
narily restricted to their actual earnings
for what they have and live upon, then no
unnatural competition from their labor
would be inflicted upon industries outside.
and the best reformative effect upon the
prisoner himself would certainly be pro
duced. | believe the contract system is
unfavorable for reformation that the pub
lie account system is better and should be
authorized by law, and that what is
known as the piece-price system should
also be legalized.
General Il. Brinkerhof, of the Ohio
State Board of Charities, says the
question is in transition state, and can
only be settled by experiment. He would
give the prison managers large liberty of
choice, and let them feel their wav to a
conclusion. Like mariner in an I'M
known sea, they must take soundings as
they go, and only anchor when they are
sure Of safe harbor Ny own opinion"
says he, is that the piece-price plan, all
purposes considered, is the most promis-
ing system now under consideration"
Rev. \. q. Bowers, Secretary of the
Ohio Board of Charities, says: Probably
the best plan is what is known as the State
account plan, provided that competent and
experienced officers can be retained.
~ }. Cassidy, Warden at Philadelphia.
replies: The entire care of prisoners
should be in the authorities of the State.
The State takes away the liberty of the in
dividual as a penalty for a violation of its
laws, and is alone responsible for its acts.
and should not transfer any part of It's re,
sponsibility. The method of treatment
adopted by the State, of which labor is an
important element, should be vested in
the authorities of the State only.
Miss Anna Dunlap, of indianapolis,
says Disregard public clamor deal with
this question from the reform point of
view-the best good for the prisoners.
Colonel Blunt, in charge of the United
States Military Prison in Kansas, replies:
The contract system, properly controlled,
is the best method.
Rev. 0. c. McCullocll, of indianapolis,
says: There must be labor. and, on the
other hand, honest labor outside of pris-
ons must not be forced to compete. Prison
labor should never be sold to contractors.
The State should work the men,
Charles Z. FELTON,, Superintendent of
the House of Correction at Chicago H.,
says upon the subject: theoretically the
public account system is the ideal. The
piece-price plan is make-shift The con-
tract system is extremely faulty when the
contractors own the plant and the prison
officers not owning the officers, it is unob-
iectionable as is the public account. 1t is
the man at the head of the institution. not
the system of employmeut